The manoeuvring begins

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One of the more interesting story lines as the NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season torques up for the Chase for the Championship is the jockeying in the garage area for seats for the 2010 season.

In some quarters it is this process that attracts more attention than the Chase itself, and this week the game of musical chairs got started in earnest.

The biggest signing -- so far -- for 2010 came when Roger Penske signed Brad Keselowski to drive the No. 12 Dodge. Keselowski has been one of the most sought-after young drivers since his debut with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports Nationwide No. 88 Chevrolet. While Rick Hendrick certainly would have liked to keep him in the Chevrolet family, there was simply no room in the paddock.

Well, Hendrick's loss certainly is Penske's gain.

"He is a proven winner and a welcome addition to our team," Penske said of the signing.

That move, however, leaves David Stremme in limbo after just one season with the No. 12 team. He moved from Chip Ganassi Racing last season and now it appears he will be on the outside looking in in 2010.

Over at Yates Racing, the No. 96 Ford team -- operated jointly with Hall of Fame Racing -- has announced it will effectively park 2000 Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte for most of the remainder of this season and replace him with former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie of the year Eric Darnell.

It will end Labonte's current streak of having started 568 consecutive races, second only to Jeff Gordon, who has started 569 consecutive races.

At Richard Childress Racing, there is some confusion at the announcement earlier this week that Kevin Harvick would be back in the No. 29 Chevrolet next season.

When the rumour first surfaced more than a month ago that Harvick was getting ready to bolt to his buddy Tony Stewart's Chevrolet team, Childress announced there was no substance to the story and that Harvick had a signed deal with RCR for 2010 along with his sponsor Shell-Pennzoil.

If that was the case, why was it necessary to trot out the "major announcement" this week that Harvick would stay with the team?

Indy under siege

Two news items this past week has many in the auto-sports world wondering about rumours that the France family business -- NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation -- has designs on Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series.

Always denied by both parties, such a merger now appears to have some legs, especially after Tony George was unceremoniously dumped by his mother and three sisters as boss man at IMS earlier this summer.

Then comes the announcement that the Indianapolis 500 -- still auto racing's biggest draw worldwide -- would move its start time to 11 a.m. in 2010 to allow NASCAR drivers to once again race at the 500 and in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on the same day.

The Indianapolis Star reported that the owners of Penske Racing and Andretti Green Racing also back the plan in hopes of boosting the television audience for the IndyCar crown jewel.

While that was being digested, ISC COO Roger VanDerSnick, who directed the promotion of the wildly successful Nationwide Series NAPA 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, said NASCAR was studying adding two more events in Canada -- one in Toronto and another in Vancouver.

"We're interested in Canada and we've started here with Montreal," VanDerSnick told The Canadian Press.

"If we could get the model right and continue to grow this event and really do well, I think we would be interested in (adding Canadian stops.)"

That, of course, would pit a NASCAR event in direct competition with AGR's Honda Indy Toronto. Unless, of course, Andretti's group figured a NASCAR race would make more money than an Indy event. It is, of course, always about the money.

All in all, it makes for interesting speculation on the long-held view that the France family would like to control all forms of racing in North America.

Power out for season

IndyCar driver Will Power is expected to miss the rest of this season but will not need surgery to repair the broken bones in his back.

Power will continue wearing a brace during a recovery that is expected to last at least four months. He will begin physical therapy for his injuries later this week.

IndyCar's orthopedic specialist examined Power yesterday in Indianapolis. He diagnosed fractures in Power's second, third and fourth lumbar vertebrae and his fifth thoracic vertebra. Power also sustained a concussion and a chipped front tooth in the Aug. 22 crash at Sonoma, Calif.

Massa setback

Injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's return to Formula One took a turn for the worse when doctors -- led by famed surgeon Dr. Steve Olvey -- at the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit of the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami ruled more surgery is needed to reconstruct facial injuries the Brazilian suffered at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.

Although the long-term prognosis was good, the hospital issued a statement saying that plastic surgery will be required on Massa's skull within the next week and that would keep him out of a race car until 2010.

Finish lines

Austin Dillon, grandson of RCR president Richard Childress, will be behind the wheel of a No. 3 Chevrolet out of the RCR garage for the first time since Dale Earnhardt was killed at Daytona in 2001 when he makes debut this weekend in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Iowa Speedway.